Never Far Behind
by dArkliTe-sPirit
Summary: A piece of irony: no matter what you do, who you say you are, the truth is right there.


Just a little piece I wrote. Takes place between when Vakama attacked at the Great Temple and when he arrived at the Coliseum. (sweatdrops) Disclaimer: I don't own Bionicle. Not even stock. Just own the Matoran Hordika, his pet, and his…friend.

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Five of the Rahaga were captured. The last one was trapped within the ruined Great Temple, if not dead. He had wished to stay around, watch that pitiful creature slowly die. Sadly, the Visorak had wanted to get back to the Coliseum, and he had been forced to leave.

The Toa Hordika of Fire took a quick glance at the struggling Rahaga, dangling from a pole carried by two Boggarak. Despite his now Rahi nature, he had not lost all reason, and knew the Rahaga would escape, given the chance. He was pleased to see their bindings were as tight as ever. Good.

It was a good thing the Coliseum was so tall; Vakama wasn't familiar with Ga-Metru and-

He paused, growling softly. The Boggarak stopped, confused as to why their "leader" was no longer moving. One made a quiet buzzing sound. Vakama's response was to hold up his right hand, accompanied with a growl. The message was clear: be quiet, and stay.

Vakama walked down one of the smaller streets. He had seen something moving, something that couldn't have been some ordinary rahi. It was rather small – perhaps Norik? He hoped so; it would be nice to have all the Rahaga captured as Roodaka directed…

There it was again. He turned his head, to see part of a silver foot dash into an alley. Vakama sneered. He now doubted it was Norik. But, whatever it was, it was afraid. And that was fine by him.

It made the hunt far more enjoyable.

He dashed to the alleyway, dropping onto all fours as he some sort of winged rahi and…well, he wasn't sure what to make of the other creature. Besides, from there, all he could tell was that it had spines like a rahkshi and long legs with silver feet. He pursued the two rahi, down on all fours.

The smaller of the two, the one with the spines, had heard him. It turned around, made a frightened hissed, then started clicking and whistling. In response, the dragonic rahi beside him started to speed up, both running as fast as they could.

'_Why doesn't the winged one leave? What makes the little one so important?' _Vakama thought with some anger. He would find out soon enough. His Toa powers and Hordika abilities had made him far faster, whereas the little rahi kept stumbling. The little one turned around once more, fear obvious in its golden eyes. What he saw almost stopped him.

The little rahi actually was not a rahi. It had a mask, part of it covered in scales. The rahi was a…._ 'Matoran.'_ The word briefly flickered in the back of his mind. Obviously, he had met up with a few of his new friends.

The Matoran Hordika turned back to the winged rahi, whistling and clicking. The rahi shook its head no. Vakama was now close enough to grab the feathers on the wing-tipped tail of the rahi. He smirked, starting to run on his legs. His clawed hand reached out to grab the rahi.

The Matoran then hissed quite fiercely, slashing at the rahi to emphasize his point. The rahi, now fearful, flapped its wings and quickly took off into the sky. Vakama growled. So close too! He stopped, looking at the Matoran who had fallen to his knees. Though a flying rahi would have possibly been useful, this odd Matoran would have to do. He walked over and seized the Matoran by an arm, pulling him to his feet.

The Matoran Hordika looked up at his captor, the fear so strong he was quivering. Vakama enjoyed the touch of the frightened being. It felt like a seal of his true power.

"Tell me, what do you think I should do with you?" he growled, a fire forming in his new Toa tool. He didn't care what the little creature said; it would be rather entertaining, to see the Visorak once more wrap this Matoran in webbing.

"Please sir, let me go." Vakama stared at the rahkshi-esque creature.

"What?"

"Please sir, let me go." The Matoran looked very upset, terrified out of his wits and his voice shaking – and yet he still had the audacity to try and defy his will?

"Give me one reason!" The Toa Hordika pointed the fire at the Matoran, holding it close to his face. Only now did he try to squirm away, afraid of the fire. Except for a few hisses of displeasure, he didn't say a word, he didn't try to defend himself. Vakama smirked. "I thought as much-"

"I'm trying to help my friend!"

This Matoran was braver than he thought. Afraid of both him and his fire, he had found the courage to try and reason with him. The Matoran took his silence as a sign to continue. "My friend is in serious danger. I know you don't care, but please let me help him."

It took Vakama a few seconds to find his voice. "If you mean the Matoran, you are too late. As for you winged friend –" He stopped as the Matoran Hordika vigorously shook his head no.

"No, you don't understand! I'm not talking about Hota! My friend is in danger from himself! He's slipping! He wants to kill! I have to stop him before he goes to far!" the Matoran shouted, eyes shut and a mixture of sorrow and rage on his face. "He's all I have left! My Matoran friend vanished before the Earthquake, the Toa are dead, I'm the only one left to stop him! Please, I'm begging! I'll do whatever you want, just let me go help him!"

For the first time, Vakama was stunned into complete silence. This…whatever he was blubbering about, apparently would kill, perhaps this Matoran Hordika, and he feared him, a Toa Hordika, more than what sounded like a killer rahi? Now, he had just one question.

"If you are not afraid of a killer, then why do you fear **me**?" the Toa Hordika of Fire hissed. The Matoran looked back to the ground, seeming to think.

"Once, my Matoran friend told me, we are alike, we just chose different paths." For some strange reason, that sounded familiar to Vakama. "It's…it's…it's just like right now. We….we're also alike. We're both beasts – but you chose the path of a monster."

He was ready to torch this Matoran. He held the fire closer – when there was a growl from behind. He turned and saw…he wasn't sure what to make of it. Icy glowing eyes, webbed paws with claws, a huge hanging jaw with large sharp teeth – it was truly hideous.

The Matoran Hordika took advantage of his shock, wrestling from his grasp and leaping in front, brandishing a part of a broken structure. "Aspen, stop!" he shouted. The beast took no heed, shooting acid at the Matoran. Vakama jumped out of the way in time.

"Who was your friend?" he demanded, his Rotuka spinner charging. The Matoran looked up quickly, shouting, "He was a maskmaker, named-"

The beast tackled him, sending them further down the alleyway. The conflict quickly moved down, until out on the streets. Vakama ran after, now wanting to fight. Much to his charigan, both had mysteriously vanished, only a small puddle of the acid remaining.

A small part of him, his reasonable part, was rather shaken by this Matoran Hordika. The Matoran had feared him, a Toa. That never was supposed to happen. Toa were respected, not feared. What was he doing And what about that friend of his? His friend was a maskmaker, one who had vanished. Was…was it possible? At some point in his life, had he known the Matoran, before they both became Hordikas?

His thoughts quickly vanished from his mind, replaced by instinct and rage. He was off-track, and now possibly lost. The Rahaga may have escaped in his absence. Because of one stupid…Matoran.

With a growl, he started to head back the way he came, the Matoran fading from his mind…


End file.
